Take A Pick Tuesday : Berserk

Take A Pick Tuesday: Berserk

 



 

Welcome to the brutal world of Berserk.  Having a bad day in a demon infested world, marked with a strange symbol which means you’re haunted everywhere you go? Yeah me too but take heart, the main character in this show has the same problem, in fact he’s got a lot more problems than that. This is an anime that everyone should see or at least try, it’ll be your guess in what you might expect in this show but you’ll find more than you bargained for, usually that's a bad thing but for an anime like this it makes it all the more compelling.

      Berserk is an interesting breed as after the first episode, we move backwards and then forward again. Set in a type of medieval era with a sense that the world has ended but is still continuing we follow Gutts, referred to as the Black Swordsman who moves through a demon infested world just like us, many of which are oppressing the people, controlling the monarchies and making life more miserable than it probably was beforehand. The only thorn on their side, an unrelenting opposition, in the form of the black swordsman.

      However Guts of course doesn’t hunt these demons for nothing, in fact he doesn’t hunt them for the oppressed people either, he isn't without morals, he's just seen so much and is a complicated complex character. So it does seem askew in the manga in the beginning as opposed to the anime. Yet what are those reasons for this, we don't know quite yet but what we do know is that he’s branded, that what he hunts is also hunting him and no night can come with sleep unless nightmares are alongside them. 

         No matter how you feel about Gutts, the one thing you have to know is he doesn't quit, doesn’t surrender, defying destiny and continuing to live for others sake. Once they finish the first episode and look back to the past, everything they show you that came before is thought out so well. It starts with him as a mercenary, younger, thinner but the fierceness is eyes is present, something they later explain from when he was a baby to a child. A necessity to survive, although survive for what is the journey will see Gutts undergo.

       Berserk is a look into the dark, defying expectations and somehow managing to continue despite the losses one makes. It’s also an intelligent show that mediates on the aspects of ambition, power, love,  are these things what you want or do you deny them, what forges your path and why, who do you follow, who do you lead, whose life do you live for, others or your own, what's the value in your life, is it something you never saw before.  What do you continue forward for. What do you seek, how far will you go to reach them,  What are all the consequences for these feelings, what moves us to continue? Can you change the path anyone else walks, could you see it happening and if it does, is there anything you can do to make it right.

        With his unusual strength and his very long sword, no pun intended, Gutts is a killing machine that is a force to be reckoned with. However he soon find his match comes in the form of a dashing leader of a band of mercenaries called The Band of The Hawk, their leader is Griffin. Unlike Gutts, he has the face of a noble, light skin, almost feminine appearance but it doesn’t stop him from being every inch of what makes him a leader of fierce warriors, powerful, a sense of ambition that no particular title in the established society can hold for him. Someone destined to ascend.

       As he manages to defeat Gutts and keep him alive, he asks him to follow him until he is strong enough to do otherwise, become a tool to help Griffin go from leader of a mercenary group, to a noble knight and possibly a king. That would seem unlikely and indeed it does to those that would come to know the Band of The Hawk but soon they'll realize far from impossible. As Gutts slowly becomes a part of The Band of The Hawk, at first without any interest in Griffin's ambitions as opposed to those in the group like Casca, he rises, to help lead on the battlefield, to count the warriors as friends, and respect Griffin. Even if it means he goes toe to toe with Casca one of the other commanders of The Band of The Hawk at every turn, especially when her careful planning in battle has to give way to his headstrong reckless style. Which of course could kill the others and ruin everything they've fought for, instead though it has the opposite effect. 

       Griffin’s center of attention before Gutts came into the picture was Casca, she’s as fierce as anyone else, her decisions not just in battle as we soon see but in everything, are based on how they will affect Griffin and his reputation and she doesn’t like Gutts reckless attitude and yet would share with him such an important connection that would shift the storyline.  Although in a sense her biggest beef with Gutts could be downright jealousy, she worked hard for her place in the Band of The Hawk, owing Griffin her life and her heart has belonged to him since.

      Yet Gutts may represent something, perhaps not at first but eventually that could change that, perhaps her eventual insight into another side of him is also the same insight he'll find in himself, changing not just things for himself but Casca and everyone, even Griffin will not be immune to it.  and what does that mean for her, someone whose pledged her life to another’s dreams, maybe something as vital as for him?

 

          This show seems like an epic of coming into power, the Band of The Hawk, starts to serve a kingdom, helping the armies of this kingdom to win several conflicts, Griffin doing this allows his status to grow just as he hopes for, becoming a knight, his journey to become king. Even slowly courting the princess. While we see his bond grow with Gutts we also see the secrets on the many dark deals Griffin was forced to make to help alone his climb to power. All those around him like Gutts and Casca are there to assure it to happen, they want it to happen soon. Even if it means that soon he isn't the only committing dark deeds behind the scenes but also Gutts, finding himself doing horrible things for the sole purpose of Griffin's ascent and to protect him from others in court that would see his reputation crumble.

       At this point we only get occasional hint to the supernatural/horror underpinnings we saw in the first episode, the strange necklace around Griffin's neck, the strange creature they encounter in the midst of one of their battles. It's warning to Gutts in what following Griffin would mean. Often I've wondered what it would be like as a live action film and how surprised people would be when they saw this particular arc in Berserk. The strange things that are to come, only are intiated when Gutts decides to leave The Band Of The Hawk, realizing he can't continue to live for another's sake/ambition but finally has found a deeper meaning in his own. Despite his love for all of them and even Casca , he feels it's the only path he can choose. 

   

        What's the most painful thing to watch, is it some of the back deal things Gutts does for Griffin, like killing a witness that was a child, pretty awful but the show makes their climatic rematch the hardest thing to watch of all. We all knew with the growing strength that Griffin has now, I mean there is a fantastic scene where he stays behind and fights a hundred men, which your sure ok he's gonna die but no, he kills  100 men, you know when you see things like this, that the rematch is going to have to go in Gutt's favor.   Such dedication that we've seen throughout the series is what drives the show and its characters,it’s their strength but it can also be their downfall as we now see.

Proving that the show knows how to do everything right, transcending from the major battles that came before, ones that could make Bernard Cornwell proud, to intrigue, the realistic reasoning in the characters, and a lot of longing, what if’s and desire to make sure everything descended to the ground like a meteor.

       That should be enough, I mean the series has an infamous cliffhanger that should drive you crazy but only adds to joy of the series, not only that but hindsight really does close out and yet more had come in the form of a trilogy of movies. Also enjoyable it manages to add a whole other element into the retelling of Berserk. Except we want to know what happens next right and that seemed unlikely to some but never doubt anime. In the midst of a hiatus by author Kentaro Miura, creator of Berserk due to working on another project for a while, it seemed like the conclusion of the manga would take just as long.

     However while waiting the exciting announcement came that a new series will be made this year for Berserk and all the teasers have involved Gutts in his black swordsman get up which means only that we will be able to go further in the series. How it will all wind up is something will have to look ahead to but the ride going there should be as fantastic as the rest of the series. If you never read the manga, I encourage you to do so, we’re on par with Japan with the same volume number at the moment.  You can see where the lush details that look like they belong to a bygone era in painting form, the intricate details in the backgrounds, more European than Japanese and the vivid realistic detail of the characters, gruesome and beautiful, human and awful come from. 

       Not to mention the creatures,  like hell dreamed them up only because it’s reality, the demons are not to be shrugged off, just to give you a sense of the overcoming odds Gutts faces, even for him, it’s a lot. Not to mention characters you’ve never seen in the show and one you’ll see from the start, the fairy Puck!  

 

You see, nothing is a simple as a climb of power, we as humans have our emotions tangled up in everything, in each other, in our hopes and while that can be a beautiful thing and it can also be a devastating thing with consequences beyond our comprehension. That’s something chaotic and is definitely something berserk, in which, the series has earned its name.
 

Tatsumi

Tatsumi

Pour a cup of tea

Awaken your sense

To what you see and what is really underneath

It is clear if you look in his written words, in his drawings of two shades

As he weaves these tales for you, the ink is the strands that touch each other

They are here to show you:

The ashes on the wall, mother and son embrace, is not what it seems

How much of it is fueled by hate

The sounds of war have tried to past but there are echoes of it coming forth

Criminals shackled together, are they truly condemned, are they what we believe

Through the black and white lines, comes a grey most would not see

Wandering in this old abandoned dream

The one dismissed when it once was reality

Drifting in these experiences, they makes the stories real

They make the tales feel

Demanding out attention

It is from this life we honor

Every time we open one of his books

Every time we turn a page

Fandom Owes A Debt

 

Fandom Owes A Debt

 

I grew up in a house that held some Trekies that had been fans from the original series until the present. So having people devoted to a particular fandom seemed to open the gateway for my own, of many of them being anime. Though many is the time that I could sit down with them and watch a Star Trek episode, to this day see what TV both here and in Japan as well as film owe to the franchise and what icons like Leonard Nimoy had managed to for us as fans, for our aspirations when we would grow up and the pleasure we have gotten from the experience since. An icon in fandom is important, no one knows this more than the fans themselves, you’ll see plenty of stories when people go to conventions and see just how much of an impact they have made. No doubt Leonard Nimoy was one of those icons, in fact the character he played on Star Trek, Spock, could have had an extreme effect on the many characters that come from anime. Stoic, intelligent and cool.

 

 

 

        Offering a glimpse into the future is something that Anime/Manga are obsessed with. It helps us reach further and take some of those ideas, bring them here to the present and really examine them. Many things that were fiction in Star Trek have become science fact since then, thanks in large part to most of the people that developed the things we have being big fans of the show. In fact movies and shows to this day still touch on things that Star Trek was touching on years ago.  There are times that anime and manga walk down those paths as well.  A great way to question things and go further still,  you can never fault fandom from pushing people toward their dreams, how many people watched Indiana Jones and decided to become Archeologist is the same as seeing Leonard Nimoy’s character on the screen and wanted to pursue something close to that, it is also something anime and manga can do in a special way,  even with their special pilgrimages to places shows were set in, to actual professions of the characters we watch in anime and manga. To even watching shows with robots or say mobile suits and wondering if that’s possible to make and they have, in so many ways and will continue to do so. That saying that nerds rule the world is not an understatement, fandom pushes our imagination and challenges our ingenuity, it can also question the importance of certain things and maybe, hopefully prepare us for things we might not otherwise expect or have thought about until too late, in other words make us more aware of the world and beyond that around us.  

 

     Being in a house among fans taught me the value of carrying some respect as one towards those that contributed to my fandom in a large way, it’s a respect among anime fans that have striking similarities to Star Trek fans. The wonderful thing about fandom is often it can be connected, even those that may have never sat and watched an original Star Trek episode or even bothered to his cameo in the new films, might have heard his voice when they were holding the controller playing the Kingdom Hearts games, since he was the voice of Master Xehanort. One of my favorite games of all time actually.  Not to mention the actor has had credits in many films and shows you really should at least see once, if you think some of the top creators in Japan hadn’t than you’re crazy, shows like The Outer Limit and The Mission Impossible TV show. Already tributes have been made by fans all over the world in several games tributes will be made to the actor such as Star Trek Online, Elite: Dangerous and Star Commander. In Star Trek Online many players on the day of his passing had already acted on the tribute with thousands of players  going to the Vulcan planet in which the character Spock came from, paying their respects to the man that influenced their lives. In Canada many are giving a Spock treatment to their five dollar bills or ‘spocking a five”, drawing the character and altering the appearance of the currency.  

 

       If nothing else Leonard Nimoy was a part of something that is very important to fandom, offering something that people had never seen before and I’m not just talking about the story in the show, I’m talking about how many barriers they broke including racial ones in a rather tense time for such a thing.  Fandom is good with addressing and breaking through such issues. How right is it, that I would see those I grew up with as Star Trek fans and respected my love of anime and manga buy the Star Trek manga.  It felt like a circle had been made, a connection to the things that we love, that we share and helped influence us from there on. As a fan I felt obliged to give a thank you to an icon who managed to inspire a wave of hope and good will as well as contribute to the arts that all run parallel paths and sometimes send us down our paths in life.

 

Take A Pick Tuesday: Claymore

                 Take A Pick Tuesday: Claymore

 

 

 

Of All the shows I wished would continue, well there are a lot actually a lot, we’ll have to list those later but Claymore does indeed come to mind. Not only was it a recommendation as of late to someone, it’s been rolling around in my mind. Why you might say, well the show like the manga is utterly fascinating, thrilling, brutal and beautiful, the story though seems to drive you to certain questions of survival and purpose. Set in a medieval backdrop, well what we consider to be medieval anyways or at least look at what our concept of Medieval is anyways. There are women clad in armor, those that towns usually allow inside out of fear even though their fear is also their protection. Women clad in armor carrying large Claymore swords hence the name that their given by the people, a part of an organization that disperses them in order to extinguish Yokai (Demons). We follow Clare ranked 47^th in the organization as she comes into a town in order to extinguish those that are hidden among a town and change the life of a boy named Raki forever.

 

 

 

       Claire herself will bring up some immediate questions on which way her moral compass points, the truth of the matter is though she is a good person, which you will see play a factor pretty early on for her, the decisions she sometimes make will be connected to her past and how she became who she is. Raki will become someone that she wants to protect, even if that mean sometimes that she cannot be by his side. Quite often in the manga actually. Perhaps fulfilling that wish that the person who managed to protect her was the one she always wished she could protect too. While Claire goes an accomplishes the assignments that the organization send her to do, there is a clear point hammered into the audience relatively early that she has her own agenda, someone she’s looking for. Once they spotlight a character called Teresa of The Faint Smile you’ll understand why. It’s also the reason you’ll see the determination that Claire has even when the odds are stacked up against her during the assignments, why exactly she is ranked so low and what it is that makes her so special. That determination would be a gateway into becoming stronger.

      To become stronger itself can become a conflict, one that to most Claymores is impossible to win, you see these women aren’t entirely human, they have the blood of those they hunt and the more they dive into the power, the greater the risk that they might change into them. What’s interesting about the power is that they say it’s akin to sexual pleasure, once you have the power you want more, the organization themselves found it was easier for women to control it as opposed to men which leaves questions on who were the claymore from before. Once you go beyond a certain point how do you maintain your humanity, one the greatest questions of the show. I won’t spoil it for you but the answer to that is a new dynamic in itself.  A reason to fight for, it can be more potent in some of the Claymores like Claire, something purer than following the orders they do, overcoming odds to see that wish fulfilled or to have it ruthlessly snatched away.

 

 

        The Claymores don’t need to eat very often, very little at that and they take their assignments from these men in black suits with black glasses. The reasons why they take them and what happens when they go against theirs and the organizations wishes, shows the dangers of who they take their orders from and the reason maybe that they hunt who they hunt in the first place. Claire will find herself asking some of those questions along with other Claymores and while some of the answers you get in the show prove how they are a part of the problems that the Claymores are dealing with, there are some answers you’ll find if you read the manga that might blow your mind. Other perspectives are key in the show as well, these aren’t just hunting machines with no aspirations, no former lives or dreams, they are more human than anything else, not all of what made them human is lost, not by a long shot. Some might not show it like the rest but there are things they want, it just so happens that sometimes that can be masked by strength, to be strong is to be alive to continue, so in some ways it isn’t masking anything at all.

 Sure Claire’s connection to Raki may be important to who she will become and vice versa, as well as a major driving force for the show but there are others. Those she will be connected to and literally will become a part of and those through bonds that go deeper than mere comrades in battle. You will see these characters mentioned after a while, other sides of the characters you may have thought were impossible as well. One character is Undine, a claymore that Claire would meet in the War of the North who had large muscles and carried two swords, one that was hers and one of a friend that had fallen in battle. She would attempt to appear as if nothing bothered her but like the muscles which hiding something underneath. A great example that those that dispatch them might only see them as tools of war and people might only see them as frightening killers but they are in fact people. In battle pieces of them are taken away sometimes and through extraordinary circumstances no matter for how short of a time, they are given it back.

      Whatever world they’re a part of seems to get both smaller and larger as the show progresses. Before Attack On Titan rolled around that strange placing of Medieval times, that fit into brutality more than an actual time in our history had belonged to a few other shows and titles. Some of which are recognized main stream, those that had you screaming no for certain characters had Claymore among them. I don’t even know if people watching it will recognize this but even when kindness pays a price in this show, it is always important.

 

     The show is easy to devour whole and the reasoning on why the series hadn’t bothered with a second season might be more along the reason of the magazine the manga had been published in, it took a while for it to find another home, truthfully it could be the wrench in the Madhouse’s plan to make more. Though with the last two episodes not in the manga that concluded the series, that could be a factor as well to have stopped the show from seeing another season come out from it, though to me, you can find a way around that, even if a certain part toward the end had been major in the manga, after all they only adapted the first eleven volumes, why stop there especially now with a completed story.

      With Anime though there are other factors and even if there weren’t it could just be that they had gotten caught up in making other shows and the chance had sailed. Even so it’s a show that is not to be missed, if you like a captivating storyline or more limbs flying off than a year's worth of horror movies than this show might be for you,  available at a reasonable price and there are plenty of resources to watch it, not to mention the manga which digs deeper and further of course is amazing and might have some of the answers to the questions you might have had.  With Claymore not a stranger to the streaming services and having an affordable release by Funimation for some years now it’s easy to watch. In fact it’s easy to read too, VIZ has plans to release a box set with all 27 volumes for those collectors who want to own it in style. So if you enjoy Claymore remember just because it hasn’t got a second season yet, doesn’t’ mean it won’t in the future.

Sticking Up For The Arts We Love

Sticking Up For The Arts We Love

 

In response to the bashing of  Superhero or comic book movies adaptations in general, director James Gunn had some choice words sticking up for films like the one he helmed, the mega hit Guardians of The Galaxy. Being the voice for us fans who take offense when people take shots repeatedly at comic book movies, my favorite part of what he said is that he’s directed in all genres and has always put the same effort in all of them, just because it’s a big budget film doesn’t mean you can’t put the same amount of love in it. This is coming from a director who managed to bring a title and group of characters that most that haven’t heard of outside of those who read comics and show what makes the comic book so great by bringing it to the screen.  Gunn has won a slew of awards for the film since, even the soundtrack which he helped produce went platinum. Everything about it worked and that was because Gunn appreciates art as a whole.

       Which those in Hollywood could do a little appreciating of their own, not to mention that Guardians was one of the highest grossing films in 2014, comic book movies in general tend to bail Hollywood out when it’s not doing so hot at the box office or when it hits a slump. Take a look at some of the highest grossing films of all time and you’ll see what I mean. Those who are reading for the anime are wondering what’s this have to do with my stuff, well it does really, a majority of anime is based off of Japanese comics aka manga. Many of those titles could see themselves in Hollywood under the same scrutiny and the question might be then what it is now, why?  Why when it like so many art has so much to give. It isn’t like actors have shied away from the roles everyone from Robert Redford to Michael Douglas have been in some of the recent comic book films, Marvel itself boast an impressive amount of Actors and Actresses. Even Al Pacino has shown interest. Whatever the reason it’s good to see that people stick up for it, really it’s just another part of art, it reminds me of some of the hate I’ve seen Anime get both here and in Japan despite it being such an important part of Japanese culture which is saying a lot since there are so many rich aspects to their culture that one can immerse themselves in and appreciate.

       Walk into a 7 Eleven there and you’ll see anime plastered all over the place, in fact you can buy manga there, which I did when I visited. Not unlike here, where you’re favorite comic book movies get to be on Slurpee cups and well plastered everywhere too, sure there might not be manga in them and while I’m sure they have something comic book related to read, in magazines if nothing else you can bet on all the other magazines you have the actors on the cover. Stories about who’s filming what adaption, it’s a big part of our culture the same way anime is a big part of the culture in Japan, so it shouldn’t be surprising than to see these adaptions in film as often as we do. It’s been going on for years and no matter which stance Hollywood decides to take on it, whether everyone jumps on the bandwagon for or jumps on it against, the fact remains that it’s a part of film now.  To criticize it isn’t too surprising but the focus should be what it seems like it has been of late, extra care and heart placed into the films no matter what they are, there is plenty of crap not based on anything that comes out in theaters, while Hollywood might have forgotten that, we sure as hell haven’t. In short such things of interest to fans will have to be something they defend in a elegant way as James Gunn did, there may be a time that anime has an even greater effect on the mainstream culture here. Yes it has already but I mean even more so and it might be time to defend as people do with things here or just focus instead on proving why the abundance of it doesn’t necessarily have to mean it’s downfall.

     Japan has an interesting perspective on anime, in the sense of maybe not always understanding that an Otaku isn’t the typical assumption, childish, perverted etc. Some might feel  since they hadn’t read or watch most manga and anime that it is indeed childish and have a frozen image of people that enjoy it beyond the age believed that you should. However there are many that in the coming years might help morph that particular image over there and if it ever became a subject of debate in Hollywood the way comic/superhero movies are, people here in the states will just have to do the same thing. Stick up for the arts we love and maybe some of the harshest critics will see why they clamored to make so many films on genre in the first place.  

The Concerns of White Washing

 

The Concerns of White Washing

                                                   

 

For Anime Fans exciting news was announced that DreamWorks would be releasing a live action adaption of Ghost in the Shell, something they had acquired in 2008 and has been in the limbo that many titles are dragged into when rights are acquired but nothing else is done for long periods of time. I say exciting but I’m pretty sure there were some upset  from the gecko of this announcement, things took a turn for the worse when they casted Scarlet Johansson as Major Motoko Kusanagi.  The outrage by some fans has caused a petition that accused the studio of white washing, many arguing that they aren’t casting a Japanese actress to play the role. Among other things.

 

       People being upset about white washing is nothing new and the actual act of it has been going on longer than you think, since the start of film actually. There are many instances when white washing was happening and people could look back and go wow that isn’t right, though most would chalk it up with the sign of the times. See any Charlie Chan film and know there has always been a debate on how he was portrayed, was it a step forward  or a step backwards in regards to race when they had white actors portray him. Was it because the films were getting attention beforehand or just the era the film was being made? Another question once the films got popular did it change anything then, does it change anything now. These questions have been present in film for a long time. How does this affect this film’s project? As a fan of Ghost In The Shell of course I want them to honor this franchise that has given back so much to both Anime and Cinema. With that said I can understand people’s desire to see someone who is Japanese or at least of Asian descent that can act as a Japanese woman and yes there are quite a few actresses that could play the Major.  Would it still remain the same movie though and is it a form of washing if the actress isn’t Japanese but another race acting as one, if so did there is washing happening in every form, in every way in film all the time.  Now that might sound extreme right, it isn’t the same thing is it or maybe it is.

 

     Now here comes my viewpoint. I am not upset that casted Scarlet Johansson and maybe it’s simply  because I’m looking at in the perspective of the industry or because they haven’t enlightened us of the exact plot points. Speaking in the way of how Hollywood might choose to adapt it. It may seem awful that they chose her to some but for Dreamworks, there’s a lot of hope riding on this project, if It works it has the chance of having more stories be told, perhaps even becoming a franchise. An anime adaption becoming a franchise in film, sounds interesting. If it doesn’t it might damn any chance of seeing anime on the big screen. Maybe not entirely but the ones they choose just might. It might affect the way they approach the projects and if they are only the first wave of something that will be permanent, it might be a test to see what they have to learn from it when they do adaptions in the future. Yet why wait for a mistake, why not get it right in the first try. Perhaps if this film is done correctly we could be preventing it from being so if we choose otherwise. Who do they get for these movies, how true will they be, will they flesh it out the way maybe they could? Those are things we always ask with adaptions but perhaps they do get easier with time. Looking at it in Dreamworks perspective, they wanted someone that can get the attention of viewers who might overlook a film at first, someone who has played a strong center role like that before and people noticed, her name helps, it certainly brings in crowds, makes people pay attention after all she is one of the biggest actresses in the world right now.

 

       If that’s true and she is the biggest actress or one of them out there than would it matter what her race was, wouldn’t they wanted her to be casted regardless. Plenty of other big names get casted for high profile projects and they aren’t always the race of the character in the source material. That in it’s self brings lots of people to the table to complain, which would make it interesting to see them talk with the group of people that felt they were whitewashing Ghost in The Shell.  The other reason it probably didn’t rouse a reaction out me or cause me to run to sign a petition is the premise of the story. It’s an amazing premise and it isn’t a stretch of the imagination to see Hollywood taking it and setting it in America. Which is what they’re probably going to do, Section 9 in America, I mean set in Japan would bring the question why is Scarlet in Japan right. Of course there is the far flung idea that maybe their wouldn’t be such a dominance of a particular race in any country in their version of the future, which would make the refugee aspect brought up in the storylines hit even closer to home. Yes there is also the fact that the Major switch bodies, cybernetic prosthetic bodies. She doesn’t have to look like any one person but it’s safe to say they aren’t going that route.

      Who knows though, that’s the thing we don’t know. It’s easy to be upset for people that love something, fans jumped on an amazingly short teaser of Star Wars and it’s one of the biggest films ever. The only reason I’m thinking the whole setting in America approach of doing in the storyline besides Hollywood being in America, is the way the struggling Akira project had said in its early stages, that it would be set in Neo New York.  A country takes a premise and sets it in their country, its familiarity, it happens in TV shows America adapts from other countries like Homeland, The Bridge, and so on and Japan is known to do it with Anime and even some of their live action movies. Have you ever seen their Sideways film? That’s one of the things with art, people take it and incorporate it in other places, it shines because it was relevant to them and some chase down the original source to get an even greater appreciation for it.  Anyone  who listens to early Rolling Stones and Beatles songs might find themselves chasing down the original artists that they admired and chose to do covers of. They owe their art to the people that inspired them to create art.

     Many things from America have been clearly influenced by Ghost In the Shell as was it itself influenced by other things, an American adaption might then be followed by Japan making their own version and rightfully so. Not uncommon in film and so to me it makes it seem less of a problem, sometimes casting is wrong to me but for various other reason, things they choose to adapt you can feel in your bones it won’t be right and that’s something as a fan we have a right to express. So I understand the fallout, when it comes to American comic adaptions I like to keep an open mind but there are times I know who the right casting should be. But American casts in a story from another country is not uncommon in fact it’s very common as it is of an someone from another country maybe even in the UK or Australia to be casted for an American role.

 

        Whitewashing, there are times maybe not the race but simply the choices they make are what upset us, everything from Avatar The Last Airbender to Dragon Ball but let’s face it those films just weren’t that good from the start. In the hands of who had it, with an all Asian cast it might not have made a difference but if they were the race we wanted, acted well on polished scripts with directors that could pull the vision from their mind to the screen than yeah they would be great.  We can say we don’t want the films to be made, it won’t stop it, we can hope it will go in the hands of someone that will instead make us surprisingly wowed at the results, after all that’s what film is about. There are so many Anime/ manga properties acquired by Hollywood in some form or way they are bound to have quite a few that will get it right and we can hope.

      Also despite the way some people might feel, I like Scarlet Johansson as an actress and she certainly has helped break some of the barriers when it comes to high profile, gender related roles. Along with others that have been doing the same, or have long since done it in other genres. It can also be just that reserved way we saw them approaching the film and seeing them go another route upsets us. A personal one, Battle Angel Alita has been waiting for James Cameron to helm it but I say why not give it to Neil Blomkamp, a fantastic director with the perfect vision for it. I’m just saying. Ghost In the Shell is a big favorite with me so I can see why people are deterred, you want it to be given justice but for a second let’s consider that it can work. Steven Spielberg was vocal about how much he enjoyed Ghost in the Shell and though he’s not directing it, I could imagine he’s just as interested as we are, besides he’s a big part of DreamWorks, so why don’t we just wait and see and like we always do as fans, wait, hope and look forward to a surprising wow. Worse case scenario we always have the anime and with that being so great and it's own upcoming anime film, it may not be such a bad thing after all.   

Us In Twenty Years

                                                          Us In Twenty Years

It’s a fair thought to have pass in our head, even if it is one that we don’t always ask or want to ask.  Where will we be in twenty years, a giant leap in time in our lives, a drop in the bucket some might say and perhaps both are right.  Here though is another question, as fans where will we be in twenty years, what will we consider as fans to be a legacy to pass down to the next generation. The thought can be unbelievable if we consider the world a grim place due to the news, though in honesty, things unfortunate have always happened and yet we don't know a way of truly comparing it to the time we live in now, at least not completely because we live in now and not then. Some take it to another extreme and wonder if we have twenty years to consider.  After all as people we face the task of surviving all the time, we always have, like all things on the planet and one thing we’ve always done is look ahead. We believe in it, which isn't surprising that hope is what made us fans in the first place. So taking this and running with it let’s look ahead and see us as fans in twenty years and some of the possibilities it can hopefully bring.

   As fans, even those of us who are in their teens would see themselves dancing around their thirties, those of us older could look at one generation to pass our love of Anime as a possibility of giving it to two. Anime has been around for a long time, I’ve seen all generations take part in its joy, now imagine that in all places,  anime was something that all these new or relatively new fans passed on to another generation and who knows  how much of the next set would pass on to the one after them. It would mean anime, as we know it at least, since Tezuka brought Astro Boy to the screen, could go on like anything else that has maybe only been around for just as long or twice as long. Such as Rock & Roll and Film. That's stating the obvious I suppose, besides certain statements from certain directors there is no belief of anime ending, we as fans don't consider it and even more don't want it. The things we enjoy define us and most people have a special experience when they first recall watching anime.

     I’d been watching anime and reading manga for some years at the point when Yu Yu Hakusho had moved from that short lived late night slot, midnight run, to its afternoon Toonami slot. It changed a lot of things for me. Storytelling wise it took advantage of my fascination with rich characters, unique who seemed real enough you could reach out to them. Something I enjoyed in comics and movies and books that I probably was too young to see or read at certain times. Not to mention I never saw a show that kicked ass quite like they did when they got to fighting, maybe because it seemed like it held so much purpose thanks to the storyline. Since then I’ve watched it over and over again but it’s impact never left me, since then, anyone interested in anime I knew I quickly rushed a copy of it into their hands.
 
       Which says a lot, there are so many great anime shows before the show and afterwards that I could have placed in their hands but it always felt right to give them that one. It also kind of gave a boot to my backside, to realize at some point what it was that I wanted to do with my life, give power to the thought that might have already been present in my head. To tell stories.

   It never fails to amaze me, how much there really was to say in that show. Just take a look for a moment at the main character Yusuke, yes dead in the first episode but kind of a misunderstood loner, everyone thinks they have him pegged as something he isn’t, saved for a couple of people. His mother tends not to be around, though she cares she’s a drunk too. Once he becomes a spirit detective, impossible tasks are thrown at him, ones he shouldn’t survive. Like the character has to be written off and yet he doesn’t. It’s that sort of attention to detail that seems to go with every other character. Instead he finds a greater purpose and understanding of himself through it, the world around him as well as the people he cares about. He could never be again the person that he felt no one understood.

       There is a sense of growing in the show. Kuwabara the tough seeming street thug, one teachers believe they could trick and write off as nothing much like Yusuke, though we know the truth, he has an honor code, values his friends and for the right reasons would risk his life for strangers. You would think that Kuwabara is the ideal person we could strive to be and yet who would notice him in a crowd as being that sort of person. At the end of the day though that is people for you.

       Kurama, the demon in a human body, who becomes attached to the human world through the kindness of his host’s mother, someone who shows another side to demons, as well as being our gateway into seeing not all demons are evil, not all humans are good, not everything is black and white. Hiei, a badass with a bad temper, short but no one you should underestimate, he can seem ruthless and cold hearted but he is a puzzle, that’s pieces are constantly changing. After all Hiei himself has an honor code and has attachments as well, his sister Yukina born to a group of people that damned him to a death that could not kill him. 

       A sister he refuses to let know who he is because of the things he’s done. Is this acceptance being returned even living beyond the people that labeled him an outsider, does acceptance from his sister still a thing that concerns him. If it doesn't hurt him, is he afraid it would hurt Yukina. Someone born the opposite of the people he would be born into, is it possible that Hiei’s outlook might be more important than those that live in a normal circle, with normal lives?

     Perhaps and if these characters are any indication than you can imagine what it’s like when you see some of their biggest adversaries, those that turn the main cast’s world upside down not just because they struggle to defeat them but their view points and perceptions as well, as will yours. I saw aspects of these characters in everything around me and it was like the show voiced it to say yes we see what you see. Not bad for a show where people working on it were just doing their job, yet some of the enjoyment they might have gotten out of it shows.  The show is potent and I knew watching shows like this was something that I would continue to carry with me for the rest of my life.  Is that something I could see in twenty years, certainly it's already been over ten, though that isn't the finish line nor is it the ending.

      Moments you can bring up in a casual conversation with a friend, moments that in turn move you. That is why we enjoy what we do, pass it on as often as we do, not bothering to wait years  to see other people get the same happiness from Anime.  I’m not the only one, we as fans have those shows that we hold dear to us for various reasons, whether we put ourselves in the shoes of characters or allow it to move you to tears whether joy or sorrow. We as fans find anime to be important in storytelling, in art form, something noticed by most of the world but there are other things some of us complain about, when they feel that it is not as respected as it should be, when it comes to releases, a push in theaters, proper adaptations in the West and various other reason.

 While there is a profound respect, certain works held high in prestige, any actual complaint that might be valid (not that it’ll stop us from complaining, I mean come on), might just be something that will come with time.  It’s a nice way to look forward to things during the passing of time. Also showing how not only those that may come to enjoy anime in the future won’t be the only ones pleased.

                                             Things To Look Forward To

    In the same way, shows that we’ve waited to see more of, have a high chance of coming back in the coming years, the market’s change might even help to make that come true. Looking forward to your favorite shows coming back or hey even manga adapted that have never had the chance. The future can seem dim sometime but in anime it always seems very bright, especially with it's fans a part of it. Just imagine moments you remember sharing when watching a show, looking forward to another episode of it and talking with friends while you wait for another, or a new season or for it to come out to buy. Scouring conventions for it or merchandise for it, or even dressing up as its characters. Imagine that and then imagine all those moments to come like it and perhaps it’s the best way to see yourself in twenty years as an anime fan.